<p> The families of victims of US drone strikes have asked Pakistan's new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to stop the campaign by shooting down the CIA-operated spy planes if necessary, their lawyer said today.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The victims' families had written a letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to act on the Peshawar High Court's May 9 order that declared the drone strikes a "war crime", lawyer Mirza Shahzad Akbar said.<br /><br />The court had also directed the federal government to take steps to end the strikes.<br /><br />Addressing a news conference at the National Press Club, Akbar asked the new government to stop the drones as they were killing people and violating Pakistan's sovereignty.<br /><br />He claimed 1,400 civilians had died in the drone strikes, which were against the UN Charter and international law.<br /><br />Several tribal elders and relatives of victims were present at the news conference.<br /><br />"The court has ordered the government of Pakistan and its security forces to administer a proper warning to the United States that future drone strikes will not be tolerated," Akbar wrote in the letter.<br /><br />Akbar said if Pakistan failed to persuade the US to stop the strikes through the UN, the High Court "has very clearly ordered to shoot down the drones".<br /><br />He claimed the Prime Minister would face contempt of court proceedings if he did not implement the court's order in 14 days.<br /><br />Pakistan frequently issues statements condemning the drone strikes as a violation of its sovereignty but it has not taken any stronger action to pressure the US to end the campaign that began in 2004.<br /><br />In his first speech after being elected Prime Minister by the National Assembly yesterday, Sharif called on the US to end drone strikes.<br /><br />Waliur Rehman, the deputy chief of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, was killed in a recent drone strike in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.</p>
<p> The families of victims of US drone strikes have asked Pakistan's new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to stop the campaign by shooting down the CIA-operated spy planes if necessary, their lawyer said today.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The victims' families had written a letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to act on the Peshawar High Court's May 9 order that declared the drone strikes a "war crime", lawyer Mirza Shahzad Akbar said.<br /><br />The court had also directed the federal government to take steps to end the strikes.<br /><br />Addressing a news conference at the National Press Club, Akbar asked the new government to stop the drones as they were killing people and violating Pakistan's sovereignty.<br /><br />He claimed 1,400 civilians had died in the drone strikes, which were against the UN Charter and international law.<br /><br />Several tribal elders and relatives of victims were present at the news conference.<br /><br />"The court has ordered the government of Pakistan and its security forces to administer a proper warning to the United States that future drone strikes will not be tolerated," Akbar wrote in the letter.<br /><br />Akbar said if Pakistan failed to persuade the US to stop the strikes through the UN, the High Court "has very clearly ordered to shoot down the drones".<br /><br />He claimed the Prime Minister would face contempt of court proceedings if he did not implement the court's order in 14 days.<br /><br />Pakistan frequently issues statements condemning the drone strikes as a violation of its sovereignty but it has not taken any stronger action to pressure the US to end the campaign that began in 2004.<br /><br />In his first speech after being elected Prime Minister by the National Assembly yesterday, Sharif called on the US to end drone strikes.<br /><br />Waliur Rehman, the deputy chief of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, was killed in a recent drone strike in the lawless tribal belt bordering Afghanistan.</p>